Seven is A Very Important Number
by KissofJudas
Summary: After 7 years apart, Cid's decided that it's about time the Saviours of the Planet see each other - and what better way than with a Christmas party? Read and review please!


In a large, dark office in Edge, a man stood staring out the window at the slowly re-growing city. In the distance, he could still see the ruins of the last Midgar. A thousand lost souls…those ruins would never be cleaned away. Those who erase history are fated to repeat it. A knock was heard at the door. "Come in," he said calmly.

"Mr. President?" He turned his head to look at the door. Somehow, though Shinra had fallen years ago, it served as an eternal shock to see someone like Rude, a former Turk, walk in without the traditional apparel his position called for - and without the usual intent.

"Yes Rude."

"Letter for you." Rude held out the envelope and the president took it, barely glancing at the envelope as he tore it open.

_You are cordially invited to a Christmas celebration at the residence of Mr. Cid Highwind in Rocket Town. It is hoped that this can be a time for the "Saviours of the Planet" to reconnect with each other after these seven years we have all spent apart. Presents are encouraged but not required._

"A Christmas party..." he mused softly, as a small black cat pawed into the room and wound its way around his ankles. "And they thought to send me an invitation..." He squatted and the cat jumped up onto his shoulder. "What do you think?" The cat purred. "I rather agree." He stood again, setting the invitation on his desk before gazing back out the window, now in a new direction...

* * *

"Pushing forty and still trying to throw parties?" Shera said with a small smirk, putting her hands on her hips as the man she'd lived with for...oh, she couldn't even remember how long now - searched through their closet for something.

"'Ey, I'm thirty-nine years young - only thing that's got forty anything on it o' mine is that damn airship." He sat back on his heels, glaring into the mess he'd partially created and partially found. "Where the hell is my jacket?"

"Hanging up above your head, as always, Captain." She pulled said jacket down so that it fell on his head, prompting the usual string of profanities. "And why have the big reunion this year? It's not like it's a significant round number or anything."

"Seven is a very important number, Shera," he grumbled, standing and pulling the jacket on. "And I ain't gonna let another year go by without us all seein' each other. It ain't good for friends to just ignore each other this way."

Shera chuckled softly. "Captain, I can hardly call what you and the others have been doing 'ignoring'. Living on different continents and having lives of your own--"

"Call it what you will, woman, but I'm getting us together." He straightened his collar purposefully, and gave her a look. "And now I'm goin' out to see if there's a tree left t' be had. Shouldn'ta waited this long."

She just gave him a smile as he left. "Be back in time to head to the service. The weather's going to make getting to Edge take a little longer." A grunt was the only reply she got.

* * *

Though he'd never really admit it, Christmas was one of Cid's favorite times of the year. Even with the mentality of a rocket engineer, it was one of the greatest joys that he had to decorate his entire house with Christmas lights and Santas and tacky Chocobos with wreaths around their necks and anything else Christmas related he could get his hands on. Lately, Shera had taken to taking the airship pilot back to the area where Midgar used to be, and they attended a service they held in honor of the holiday in Edge. For a time, it was hoped that pieces of Midgar could be saved and rebuilt, but as that dream faded quickly and Edge was built, one of the first buildings Reeve has ensured was constructed was a memorial chapel, built in the same image as Aerith's chapel. The service was unnecessary in Cid's eyes, but it made Shera happy and it gave Cid a moment or two to reflect on the memory of the flower girl that saved them all in the end, so he didn't argue.

"Cid? You almost ready?" he heard the voice come from outside his bedroom, and he grunted in return, attempting to straighten the tie he'd found in the back of his closet. The door cracked open and Shera peeked in, smiling. "You look fine."

"I look old," he grumbled, running a calloused hand through his slowly graying hair. "I'm startin' to match the damn suit."

Shera just laughed softly and came in, putting her arms around Cid's waist and setting her chin on his shoulder. "You look fine, and you don't match the suit. You are still very much a blonde, and you always will be. Now come on; we're going to be late."

"Hmmph." The dynamic in their relationship had shifted entirely during the course of the METEOR incident, and had only continued to shift as time went on. If he'd been younger, he might have said that Shera was his girlfriend, but it didn't seem right at his age to be calling anyone his "girlfriend". So they steered clear around the situation and she was usually introduced as his assistant - which while true, was a little lacking.

Shera stepped away from him, brushing something off his shoulder and just smiled. "Let's go, Captain." And as always, he didn't quite have the heart to keep arguing with her.

* * *

The next morning, Cid woke up early for once and began finishing up the decorations on the house. Even Shera hadn't gotten up by this time of the morning. He cooked a decent breakfast, though cooking wasn't exactly his strongest point, and placed all but two of the presents he had bought under the tree. Though not expecting anything, given that he'd made the gift exchange optional on the invitations, he hoped that the others would bring presents and that the tree would look right for the season. He stood back, looking at the vision the tree had become.

"It looks good, Captain," a voice said from behind him.

Cid spun on his heel and saw Shera pad in, holding a mug of hot chocolate and wearing fuzzy slippers Cid was sure he'd never seen before in his life.

All he could do was grin. "I can only hope that the others will bring more presents! It looks kinda bare with only nine presents under it."

Shera wandered out of the room as soon as he'd spoken, but came back again a few moments later with nine more presents of her own. "Does eighteen presents look any better?"

Cid smiled and nodded, putting an arm around Shera's shoulders. "Sure does."

Shera gave Cid an odd look out of the corner of her eye. "You're rather friendly today, Captain. Any particular reason?"

Cid shrugged. "Dunno - cause it's Christmas?"

Shera just laughed and set her head on Cid's shoulder. "That's a good enough reason for me."

"Well good, cause you ain't gettin' a better one." When she just chuckled, Cid dug into his pocket and procured a small wrapped box, which he offered to Shera. "Here. One present before everyone comes."

"Oh - but Captain, I don't have any early presents for you!" Cid just shrugged and stepped a pace away from her, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Well, if you insist..."

"Well, I do, so open it."

Shera gave him a small smile and unwrapped the box to open it, revealing a delicate silver-chained necklace with a beautiful sky-blue jewel as a charm. "Captain…"

"Shit, Shera - seriously, just call me Cid, okay? Yer the only damn person I know that still calls me Captain." A bit awkwardly, he reached for the box and fumbled around a bit to put the necklace around her neck. "Used to be my mum's. Don't have much of a use for it meself, so I figured you'd wear it more'n me."

"It's beautiful - and the gem matches your eyes."

Cid smirked. "Yeh, that's why I got the damn thing and not my sister." He coughed loudly. "So yeah, hope ya like it."

"I do; I love it, Ca-- Cid."

He nodded. "Good. Now you want to eat this crap I cooked or what?"

Shera laughed. "I would be more than happy to eat the crap you've cooked, Cid - though I never knew you cooked in the first place."

"Eh, don't be so sure I kin cook; ya haven't tasted none of it yet." Once they got into the kitchen, Cid noticed that Shera was watching him rather intently as he dished out food for himself. "What?"

"You're not smoking."

"So?"

"What do you mean, so? Cid - I've never known you to not have a cigarette in your mouth!"

He shrugged. "Yeah well, gotta quit sometime, eh? Why not Christmas?"

Shera was shocked. "You're quitting?"

"S'too damn expensive. M'not wasting all my damn Gil on that shit. I got two packs left and when they're done, I'm done." Shera gave him a hug, causing the pilot to stiffen but he had to smirk.

"You are an amazing man, Cid Highwind," was all she had to say.

"Thank ye kindly."

* * *

Several hours later, a loud knock rang out on the door and Shera sighed, glancing over to the door as she pushed the few strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail out of her face with her wrist. "Cid? Can you get the door; I'm cooking."

"Yeah, yeah - I'm comin'." A moment later, the pilot strode into the room and pulled open the door, laughing once he saw who was there. "He-ey! Way to be early, Wallace! Holy shit, is this Marlene? Damn you grew!" Barret and Marlene walked in, the latter giving Cid an enthusiastic hug. "How old are you?"

"I'm eleven, Uncle Cid. I'm not a little girl anymore."

"Damn straight you're not. And how about you, tough guy?" The men embraced in typical male fashion. "Old farts reunion, eh?"

"You're the old fart here, Highwind; quit fooling yourself." Cid just punched Barret for that one, as the two continued bantering back and forth as she walked back to the living room. Watching them with a smile, Marlene hung back, leaning against the counter to talk to Shera.

"Hi, Aunt Shera, how are you?" Marlene's family was about as scattered and varied as a person's could get, and very few people the considered family were actually related to her. But that suited Shera just fine; she hadn't called anyone close to her family for quite some time, and she had no siblings so Marlene was the closest thing to a niece she'd ever get.

The mechanic smiled. "I'm well, Marlene, how are you? You're so much taller than I remember you!"

Marlene smiled. "I'm good too." Marlene peered over at Shera's hands.

"What?" Shera inspected her hands, seeing if there was something wrong with them that only Marlene had noticed.

"Looking to see if you had a wedding band I hadn't heard about yet." Shera smiled, a little sadly.

"No, I assure you, if a wedding ever comes up in planning of this household, you and Tifa will undoubtedly be the first two I tell about it."

"There's not even anything in _planning?_" Marlene said, eyes widening.

"Not at all."

"But you guys have been living here together for, like, _forever_!"

Shera chuckled. "I'd say we've been what could be considered dating for about...oh, almost five years now, Marlene; that's really not that long in the grand scheme of things. And besides, you know as well as I do that it's going to take a while for Cid to be ready for a family." A bout two years prior, Cid had consumed one or two too many drinks and he and Shera had gotten into quite a fight. Generally Cid wasn't an angry or violent drunk, so Shera still didn't know what had gotten into him this particular night, but she'd shown up in Kalm on Barret's doorstep with a split lip and the beginnings of a nasty bruise on her cheek. Marlene had been staying with him for the time, taking a little time away from Cloud and Tifa, so the two of them watched after her for a while. She'd never told them them the specifics of the fight, but Barret had figured out most of it - that it was a stupid fight that was only serious because Cid had been drunk, and Shera assured him that he'd never been violent with her before. Therefore, when Cid came back on his hands and knees about a week later, both Barret and Shera forgave him immediately, and life had been relatively calm ever since.

Marlene just shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But even so, it's not nice of him to just keep you waiting forever."

"I doubt he'll keep me waiting forever." She smiled at the girl, however. "But I know what you mean."

* * *

A little while later, a knock sounded on the door again. After hearing no stirring from the living room, Shera walked over to grab the door and laughed when she suddenly had a snow covered ninja around her neck. "Shera - hi! You look great; I love the necklace! It's super pretty; where'd you get it? Is anyone else here yet? The house looks awesome all decked out for Christmas."

Shera just shook her head, a wide smile on her face as Yuffie finally pulled away so that Shera could see her beaming back at her. "Let's see if I can remember all those questions to answer them. You look well too; thank you for the compliment; the necklace was a present from Cid; yes, Cid, Barret, and Marlene are all in the living room, and thank you, Cid and I spent a lot of time decorating this year."

"He helped you decorate?" Yuffie put her hands on her hips, inspecting the room again. "I'm impressed - and he got you a pretty necklace! You sure we're talkin' about the same old man here?"

Shera chuckled. "Yes, but I'll admit that the necklace didn't take a lot of getting. It's a family piece; it used to be his mother's."

"Even more impressive." The ninja just beamed again, then hoisted a bag she'd had at her feet up over her shoulder. "All right, Mrs. Santa Yuffie's got presents to deliver to a tree. Scuse me, Shera." She bounded through the kitchen, squealing once in the room.

Just as Shera was about the turn around, a figure peeked in from around the corner, looking duly confused at the fact that the door was already open. "I suppose knocking is unnecessary then," Vincent intoned, giving Shera that small smile you could only see in his eyes that he got every once in a while. "Merry Christmas, Shera."

"Merry Christmas, Vincent. You look well; I'm glad you came." She gave him a hug, which he at least in part returned.

He nodded slightly. "I am pleased I was able to make it, and obtain presents for everyone as well." He indicated a small satchel he was carrying as he stepped in, shutting the door with a look of mild irritation as the wind gusted snow around.

"I'll be honest, Vincent. I didn't think you'd come. I'm glad you proved me wrong."

She heard him laugh softly under the collar of his cloak. "I have done such with many a person and many an occasion; I will be happy to add another to the list." He ran his good hand over his hair, attempting to melt the snow that had been tossed in it. "Who else has arrived?"

"Well, Cid and I and you, of course, and then Barret, Marlene, and Yuffie are all in the living room. Do you know if Nanaki, and Cloud and Tifa are coming?"

The gunman shrugged slightly, shaking his head. "I would have no way to know of Nanaki, and I have not heard from Cloud nor Tifa as of late. They were not in Nibelheim last I saw." Shera nodded.

"Well, I'll let you go put your presents under the--" A scratching at the door stopped her, and she opened it, only to see Nanaki bound in. He shook off, showering snow onto Shera's floor and slippers, then looked up apologetically at the mechanic, who just laughed. "Merry Christmas, Nanaki."

The beast dropped the bag from his mouth and sneezed, shaking his head again. "Merry Christmas. My apologies for the snow."

"Don't worry, Nanaki - it'll dry, and I'm sure you will too. Why don't you go with Vincent into the living room and be with everyone else; I'm sure Cid's lit up the fireplace by now." The two grabbed their respective bags and walked in, and Shera smiled. It made her happy to see everyone responding to Cid's invitation. She'd been a little worried that the group wouldn't be willing to make the trip out to Rocket Town, or that they would have had other plans for Christmas, but it was looking like they'd all dropped everything else to be a part of their celebration. It meant a lot to her, especially since it certainly wasn't her they were coming to see - but they'd all greeted her with open arms. She peeked into the oven, checking the ham she was cooking. It was coming along nicely, but still wasn't going to be done for a while. She'd start a few other things while she was waiting.

* * *

About half an hour later, Shera had just set a kettle down to boil water for tea when there was a knock once more at the door. "I almost know who this has to be," she said to herself, hurrying over to the door. And sure enough, a snow-covered Cloud and Tifa were standing there, each bearing a small bag of wrapped gifts and wide smiles. _Well_, Shera had to correct herself, _it was probably the widest smile Cloud's had in ages, though it's far from a real grin._

"Hey Shera!" Tifa said, giving the mechanic a warm hug once in the kitchen, which Shera eagerly reciprocated.

"Hey Tifa; hi Cloud. How are the both of you? I'm glad you got here; was the weather too bad?"

Cloud shook his head, snow lightly drifting off his spikes. "Nah, just got turned around at one point and had the Chocobos good and lost. But they're gold, so they can get through pretty much anything we throw at them." He looked around, tucking his sunglasses up onto his forehead. "I like what Cid's done with the place; it looks real nice."

"Trust me, he didn't do it on his own. Takes a little more than just some spare time to get a man in gear."

Tifa chuckled, one arm around Cloud's waist. "Tell me about it - you should have seen the army it took to get Cloud back to Nibelheim to help Vincent."

Shera raised an eyebrow. "Helping Vincent?"

Cloud nodded, shrugging a bit. "He's been trying to make the mansion look a little bit less like a haunted house, and he wanted me to help. It's a good project for when I'm not delivering." Taking Tifa's bag from her hands, he indicated that he was headed to the living room, which Shera acknowledged with a smile and a nod, and he vanished.

Tifa, however, hung back a moment. " "Aren't you coming in?"

"I'm the cook for dinner. Cid made breakfast –"

"Wait, Cid did _what_?"

"He cooked breakfast." Tifa just stared at her. "I know, my thoughts exactly. But Cid had his turn in the kitchen, so I'm cooking for all of you. I'll be in; don't worry. Go visit." Tifa smiled and ddid as she was told. Shera looked out the window and sighed. There was only one member missing, and something seemed to tell her that he wouldn't be coming. Reeve had always been rather secluded…parties probably weren't his thing. But she had hoped that maybe she'd get a chance to really meet the man she'd only heard rumours about.

A few minutes longer, and nothing in the kitchen required her full attention anymore, so she finally got her chance to join in the festivities in the living room. The scene she was greeted with made her smile more than any other present could have. Marlene was seated in Tifa's lap, with Nanaki settled at Barret's feet. Cid was sitting cross-legged on the floor by the tree, arranging Cloud and Tifa's presents. Yuffie was sitting - no, Yuffie was _lounging_ - on the couch with her feet propped up in Vincent's lap, and while the gunman didn't look terribly pleased with the arrangement, he wasn't moving to change it either. Cloud and Tifa was seated in the midst of everything, with Tifa closer to Yuffie on one end of the couch, and Cloud leaning toward Vincent on the other. Barret, Nanaki, and Cid were reminiscing about the days of Meteor, Cloud and Vincent were planning for the mansion, but doing such rather loudly - most likely to drown out the sounds of the "girl talk" Yuffie, Tifa, and Marlene were engaged in.

Yuffie grinned when she saw Shera walk in. "There you are! I was afraid you'd fallen right into the stove. Come on over, join the girl talk."

Shera chuckled. "Well, how about I make a suggestion. You let Vincent escape from under your boots of doom, and Tifa, you climb out of Cloud's hair, and we'll let the boys talk in peace and we girls can sit over here where there's more room." The other three agreed quickly, and the change in location was swift. "What's the topic of choice?"

"My ex-boyfriend," Yuffie said simply. "Named Mark, real jerk who worked at Turtle's Paradise. Used to let me come in after hours, but now he's run off with some tramp from Mideel and is clearly too cool for school and won't even give me the time of day."

Shera nodded sympathetically. "Men can be like that."

"Boys too!" Marlene added, nodding with purpose. "There's this kid in my class at school, and he keeps stealing my stuff out of my desk, and pushing my chair in lunch and being really dumb."

The older girls smiled to each other. "What's his name?" Tifa asked.

"Carter."

"Carter Reynolds?" Yuffie asked, leaning toward her. Marlene nodded and the ninja burst into giggles. "I know Carter! He's a cute kid; he used to hang around Wutai in the summers."

"That's where his family's from. He's got an older brother that used to be in Shinra…he won't say who he is."

Tifa shrugged. "Well, to be honest, kiddo…I think he likes you."

Marlene made a face. "No…"

Shera and Yuffie nodded. "That's what I would say, Marlene," Shera had to concede. "That's how I've always known boys your age to act. There was a kid that liked me when I was your age and he made fun of my constantly. Finally he made me cry and then he apparently felt bad because he brought me a flower from the grasses around the school later and apologized." Yuffie laughed at that.

"Eww…Carter likes me? Ewww!"

_**DING!**_

Shera's head snapped up and she smiled. "Dinner time everyone!"

* * *

After dinner had ended and they were all heading back to sit around the Christmas tree, Shera cast one last glance out the window and sighed at the darkness. _Come on, Christmas spirit...couldn't it have been a full party?_

"Something wrong, Shera?" Cloud asked softly, as he watched her gaze.

She turned back to look as the blonde and just smiled sadly. "Just wishing that the whole group was here."

Cloud smiled, a little sadly, and set a hand on Shera's shoulder. "Yeah... I know the feeling. Come on. Let's go in with the others."

They walked in and got settled in, and Cid stood from where he'd seated himself at the foot of the tree. "Right, so um... Thank you for comin', everyone. Didn't really think I'd get this big of a crowd."

"Why wouldn't we show up?" Yuffie asked with a grin. "It's a party with free homemade food!"

Cid just pointed at her, attempting to scowl at her, but it wasn't enough to hide his smile in return. "You know, kid, I spent a hell of a long time finding yer damn present, and if you jerk me around maybe I just won't give it to you." Yuffie simply pouted in response, making an angel's halo with her hands to float over her head. "Yeah sure." He looked back out to the group. "So how we gonna do this whole gift givin' thing? Everyone open their own presents one person at a time, or people take turns handin' out their presents to everyone, or what?"

"I like the second idea, Cid," Tifa said. Once she had spoken, of course, Cid immediately sat down and gestured for her to start. Tifa just laughed. "Fine then, serves me right for having an idea." She picked out the presents that she had brought and set them down next to her. "Okay, let's start here, Cid. Here's yours." Cid took his present and opened it. He laughed as he pulled it out of the paper. It was a miniature version of the Highwind. "It doesn't really fly as well as the real one, but I saw it in a store and thought you'd like it."

Cid just nodded, smirking at the mini airship. "Nah, it's cute, Tif. I like it. Still blows my mind that they're makin' damn models of these things." The rest of Tifa's presents were handed out without much of incident happening, and then Cloud followed after her and handed out his presents. Nanaki had brought everyone some useful piece of native Cosmo Canyon artistry that were generally well received.

Yuffie jumped at the chance to go next, given that she too had apparently brought pieces of native artisanship. Hers were slightly less useful, as a general rule, but did appear to have some level of thought put behind who got what. The notable exception to this was her gift to Vincent, which came in the smallest box, which made the gunman give her a bit of a confused look. "It's...it's not really that impressive, but it means a lot to me." "It's not very impressive, but it means a lot." Vincent unwrapped the gift to find a jewelry box. Opening it slowly, he revealed a pendant of sorts with an ancient rune-looking charm on it. Vincent's eyes widened immediately. "Do you know what the symbol is?" she said softly.

Vincent nodded slowly. "It's the Ancient Wutain symbol for devotion…and also one of the highest medals a soldier in the Wutain army can achieve. It shows unwavering dedication to their team or squadron." Vincent glanced over to the ninja, eyes narrowed in confusion now. "Yuffie, this is on a gold chain. Doesn't that mean…"

She nodded, blinking so as to avoid tears. "It means it once was given to a soldier in the reigning family…it was my father's. I didn't know what do do with it when he passed away...but I think he would approve of you having it," she finished in a whisper.

Tifa went to comfort her, but Vincent beat her to it in a surprising gesture. He stood briefly so that he could kneel next to Yuffie and put his good arm around her in an awkward hug. "I could ask for no gift more profound, Yuffie…I thank you." She managed a nod and just turned into his shoulder, fighting back tears.

A moment of tense silence followed, but Nanaki stepped forward to break it. "Perhaps we should move on." And so they did - as apparently Yuffie had somehow neglected to open her present from the fire beast. Much as everyone had expected Nanaki had hoped, it got a smile out of the ninja again, as it was a book he had supposedly found in his library at Cosmo Canyon entitled Art of the Materia Hunter.

When asked if he wanted to go next, Vincent simply said that he wanted Yuffie to be back to her normal self before she opened his present. That got him an interesting look from Yuffie, but if he noticed it, he ignored it well. Marlene moved to begin passing out her gifts, but a loud banging on the front door stopped her. Shera stood up from her place, confused at who could possibly be at the door, and wandered over to answer. Opening it, she immediately grinned and wrapped her arms around the individual at the door in a tight embrace.

Back in the living room, the visitor's first sentence was just barely audible. "Shera, I'm covered in snow; you're going to get soaked." Shera laughed softly and pulled a thoroughly snow-covered Reeve Tuesti into the living room.

"He-ey Reeve!" Cid said, standing to shake hands with the WRO president once the latter had gotten his gloves off. "Didn't think you were gonna make it!"

"Ah well, it's good to finally be here. My hovercar broke down outside of Gold Saucer; Cait tells me he'll get it fixed. Consequently, I had to walk from there to here, which isn't exactly the shortest jog - especially with all this snow. But I have to admit, the strangest thing happened. I was just about to cross the river - it's entirely frozen over - when all of a sudden, I heard sleigh bells."

Marlene's eyes shot open wide. Though old enough to believe that Santa and his reindeer weren't real, it was still every child's dream to be proven wrong. Vincent's eyebrow just raised slightly. "Sleigh bells, Reeve?"

"I was just as incredulous as you, Vincent, but yes - sleigh bells. I turned to see where it was coming from and promptly slipped on the ice and fell. Had I actually hit the ice, it's quite possible I would have cracked through and gone into the water, but someone caught me by the elbow before I could hit and pulled me up into the sleight. In fact, he's the one that gave me the rest of the ride here, since he said he had something for all of you." He ducked back to the front door and gestured to someone still out in the snow, and a moment later in walked a person in a Santa suit, thinner than most, but sparing no expense in terms of the costume.

"Ho ho ho," he said, betraying the slightly lesser level in enthusiasm for the job in and of itself.

Shera smiled. "Merry Christmas, Santa."

He nodded to her. "A very Merry Christmas to you too, Shera." That caught her off guard. The voice wasn't one she recognized, and what face she could see behind the fake beard wasn't a familiar one, but she didn't put it past someone to have learned her name. He had ridden here with Reeve, after all. The Santa looked around and clapped his hands. "Excellent! Barret, Marlene, Tifa - everyone I needed to see all in one house! What good fortune!" He brushed the melting snow off of his coat and pulled forward a large black bag and peered into it. "Now I have presents for all of you in here...let's see where they all are."

True to his word, each person got a present labeled with their name from Santa - save for Marlene. She walked up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder. "Santa?" He turned and looked at her. "Do I have a present?"

Immediately he knelt down to be closer to her height and smiled. "Of course - I was just saving yours for last, little miss, as it is quite a special present. The elves have worked very hard on this present and they wanted me to make extra sure to get it to you." He handed her a rather large present, which she tore into immediately.

Slowly Marlene's eyes widened. "Dad…isn't this…my real dad?" Barret leaned down to look. She had gotten a large picture frame that held many pictures, one of which being Dyne and his wife, holding a newborn Marlene.

Barret nodded, fighting back tears. "Yeah, tha's yer dad. Tha's Dyne…and Eleanor…and you when you were a little baby girl…" The other pictures were Marlene, Aeris, and Elmyra at Aeris' house... Barret, Marlene and Tifa all at Seventh Heaven - all pictures of Marlene at various places with various friends throughout her life.

Marlene looked up at the Santa. "How…did you get all of these?"

The Santa simply winked at her. "I'm Santa." She smiled and went back to looking at the pictures with her father. The Santa looked back in his bag. "Oh…Tifa?"

Tifa looked up from the new pair of fighting gloves she'd gotten, a pair she'd been pining after for months now. "Yes?"

"There's another present in here, but it's not from me. A good friend of mine stopped me before I left Edge and gave this to me to give to you. He's working late today, to cover for the President being here, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to get this to you himself." He handed her a small wrapped box. She opened it to reveal a black velvet jewelry box, which got the Santa a rather suspicious look, but he simply gestured for her to keep working at it. Once open, she gasped as a beautiful silver ring with an emerald and ruby spring of holly as the charm was exposed. "Ruden Sugimori sends his holiday greetings."

Tifa looked up at the Santa with wide eyes. "_Rude_ sent this?" He nodded. Tifa put a hand over her mouth and fell back to her seat on the ground, staring at the ring. She looked up at him. "Will you see him again to say thank you for me?"

He grinned and nodded. "I'm sure I can get the word to him."

Suddenly Yuffie flew up from her seat next to Vincent and came over to push lightly at the Santa, who gave her a rather affronted look. "Wait a second, I know who you are!"

The Santa shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. "Everyone knows Santa."

She just shook her head. "Nuh-uh, I know who you _really_ are." She jumped up to swipe at his hat, knocking it off and revealing a shock of bright red hair that had been cleverly tucked up under the hat and a pair of biking goggles. "Reno Kirinari, what the hell are you doing as Santa?"

Reno bent to pick his hat back up and put it on his head, sticking his tongue out at Yuffie. "Doing my job, as per the request of the president of the World Regenesis Organization."

"Or, in other words, I spent three hours of the work day yesterday attempting to convince him that I would in fact fire him if he refused to cooperate."

Reno grinned. "In the end, Rude had to drag me out of bed this morning, force the costume on me while I kicked at him, and then he threatened to stick my Electro-Mag Rod so far up my ass the fireworks for next year would come from my mouth." Everyone laughed and Reno just shrugged. "I took the lesser of two evils."

"Well thanks Reno, we appreciate it," Cloud said with a small smile. The tension between the two was still evident, but it had faded a great deal over the course of the years.

Reno pretended to tip his hat to Cloud. "No problem, Strife. Merry Christmas to y'all."

He had just turned to leave when Marlene scrambled up from her seat again and caught the back of his jacket. "Mr. Reno?"

Reno winced in jest and turned around again. "Aaah, no mister, Marlene. Just Reno's okay."

She just nodded. "Kay, but Reno... Where did you get all of these presents? How'd you get all of the pictures and stuff?"

Reno knelt down next to her and pressed something into her hand invisibly with a wink. "That's my little secret." He ruffled her hair. "Merry Christmas, kiddo." With a nod to the group again, he hoisted the bag back over his shoulder, ensured Reeve that he'd find someone to get him a ride back to Edge in the morning, and walked out.

As Marlene peeked at what Reno had given her, Barret leaned forward to see what she was peering at. "What'd he give ya, hon?" The girl grinned and held out her hand, where a single silver sleigh bell was resting. As she went to sit with Barret, Reeve opened up his presents that he'd been given, and then handed out his own, as did Shera.

Shera's gifts had all been handmade scarves, save for Cid's, apparently. She held his for a moment, looking at him. "Now, you can't laugh when you open the present, Cid. I know it's not much, but I've always loved this picture and so I had it framed for you to put somewhere." She handed him the package, and he opened it to reveal a picture frame. In it was an older picture of the two standing in front of Shinra No. 26. Cid was grinning, pointing back to the rocket with one hand and with the other hand, had dragged a rather embarrassed looking Shera into the picture. She was smiling, albeit through a blush, and seemed to be laughing.

Cid laughed, then clapped his hand over his mouth. "Sorry, Shera - m'not laughing at the present. I remember this; s'a good picture. I like it, thank you." He handed it to Reeve so that he could pass it around. "Now, all of your presents are the same, 'cept yours, Shera." He handed out his gifts to everyone - framed copies of the one picture of the entire group he had, one that had been taken by Cait Sith at Gold Saucer back during the days of Meteor. "I figured it was a good gift."

Reeve was smiling. "I remember this well. I had always rather hoped I'd get a copy of this some day. It's perfect; thank you, Cid." Reeve seemed to speak for everyone, as they all voiced similar feelings.

"Now, yours is kinda special, Shera, cause I didn't wanna give you a picture that we already got a copy of." Cid pulled a present out of his pocket and handed it to her, a small wrapped box. Taking off the wrapping paper, she had a small moment of déjà vu as she saw a small jewelry box. Stunned, she just looked up at him, and he simply indicated to open it. She did, and gasped as she saw a beautiful silver ring with sapphires and diamonds on it.

"For going on…I don't even know how many years now, you've put up with my shit and me treating you like nothing. 'Bout five years ago, I stopped bein' such an ass and asked you out, cause I knew that if I didn't do somethin', I was gonna lose you. Three years later, I almost did anyway cause of some stupid mistakes that I never shoulda made and ain't ever gonna make again. But I don't wanna risk something stupid takin' you away from me again, and I figured the best time to do this was Christmas." Cid went down on one knee and Shera's hand flew to her mouth. "We've never talked about anything in our future except for what you're cooking for dinner, and I think it's 'bout time we changed that. So here in front of all of our friends, on Christmas Day, I'm gonna ask you…Shera, will you marry me?"

Shera's eyes instantly filled with tears as she quickly began nodding. Cid stood again and pulled Shera into a tight hug. "Yes, of course you stupid man, of course I'll marry you," she managed to get out and the entire group began to cheer.

Yuffie looked up at Vincent and nudged him with her elbow. "You ever been that romantic, Vinnie?"

Vincent glanced down at her, then looked back up to the embracing to-be Highwinds and smiled slightly, invisibly. "Perhaps." Glancing over to the tree, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I never handed out my presents."

Cid caught that and looked over, his eyes wide. "Aw damn, Vince - no you didn't. I'm sorry; I totally forgot."

Vincent simply stood and nodded to the pilot. "I think, given what was predominantly on your mind, it is acceptable." Cid chuckled and gestured to the presents, which Vincent picked up and distributed quickly before taking his seat behind Yuffie again, handing her the present with her name on it last.

With absolutely no hesitation, she tore into the wrapping paper and revealed a book tied with a thick red ribbon. She untied it and looked at the fabric, confused but with understanding slowly dawning. "Vinnie…is this…your headband?"

The gunman nodded. "One of them. I thought that perhaps if you had one, you would stop stealing mine." She laughed and wrapped her arms around Vincent in a tight hug. "Look at the book."

She picked the book back up and read the title. "Shadows of a Secluded Mind: Poetry from the Basement. By…Vinnie, you wrote a book? You wrote a _poetry_ book?"

"Open the cover."

She did so and smiled as she wrote what was written there. "To Princess Yuffie Kisaragi: You are an amazing young woman that I trust will grow up to be a wonderful ruler of Wutai. I could think of no better present than a book of poems that I recently compiled. You told me once that you read poetry every night and it helped you sleep. Perhaps the contemplations I had as I could not sleep will have an opposite effect for you. The poem on page 47 is dedicated to you. Eternally yours, Vincent Valentine." She smiled softly, and turned to the appropriate page and read the poem silently. By the end, she was in tears. "Thank you, Vincent…" She turned and wrapped her arms around him again, but this time Vincent returned the hug as best he could with only one arm. Cloud carefully took the book out of her lap and read the poem aloud to the group.

"_What Have I Learned" by Vincent Valentine_

_Twenty eight years on this planet_

_Have given me memories_

_Some of pain_

_Some of pleasure_

_Some of love_

_Some of hate_

_Too many have imprisoned me_

_Too many have shunned me to my seclusion_

_One brought me out_

_One princess of both land and mind_

_I have learned that there is forgiveness_

_I have learned that there is life after love_

_After loss of love_

_I have learned that I am not alone_

_I have learned that there is an oasis_

_There is an island that can be my escape_

_And there is a woman that will welcome me_

_For the princess is a woman_

_An angel disguised behind a devil's grin_

_My heart, frozen, is no detriment_

_She smiles with open arms_

_And I learn_

_I learn that I am not a loss_

_I learn that I too am loved_

_I learn that perhaps..._

_Happiness is no longer a myth._


End file.
